Amy Medford creates her works through the use of a variety of mediums. The bronze, stone and clay materials she uses are as important to the work as the subject that is ultimately revealed. She strives to reveal a certain truth through her work, and the materials themselves perform much of the communication. Medford’s work is rooted in ancient Middle Eastern conceptualizations of death, birth, and renewal, and these themes are directly bound to the materials chosen. Her stone sculptures are firmly grounded by heavier bases, reflecting the natural quality of the stone.
The artist chooses the human body as her primary subject matter in order to reflect her personal connection to the human spirit. In her eyes, a successful piece will resonate with the viewer, evoking a response to the truth she strives to employ.
Amy Medford was born and raised in New Jersey, received her A.B. in Theater History from Cornell University, and went on to earn an apprenticeship at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute for Sculpture, where she mastered the “lost wax” technique of bronze casting.
The artist later traveled to Italy to study stone carving and further her practice of creating sculpture at Studio Palla, in the small town of Pietrasanta, Italy. Medford’s work has been shown both nationally and internationally and is represented in several international collections.
Leonid Siveriver began his artistic journey, in Ukraine, in art school for children. At the age of 14, he immigrated with his family to Israel where his passion for art continued, leading to entry into the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem where he received a BFA followed by postgraduate study. His love of three-dimensional works led to a journey to Pietrasanta, Italy, an area that has attracted sculptors for centuries due to the quality of the marble. In Pietrasanta, he studied Marble Carving at the Studio Antoniazzi, and he began his study of Bronze Casting at the Foundry Tomassi.
To further his expertise in bronze casting, he crossed the Atlantic to come to the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in Mercerville, New Jersey.
For over 20 years, Leonid has been sharing his knowledge with others by serving as an Instructor of Sculpture at Mercer County College as an Instructor in Ceramics at the Lawrenceville School, both in New Jersey. Currently he is an Instructor of Figurative Sculpture at Odyssey ClayWorks in Asheville, NC. He has been featured in numerous solo and small group exhibits, and he has been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles.
Leonid Siveriver states, “The inspiration for my latest works is drawn from the visual strength and beauty of ritual objects found in many ancient cultures. I combine personal imagery with symbols from ancient cultures to create my own visual language.”